(Realistic) roleplaying builds!

I've been searching the internet for what seems like a decade to find a feasible NON CLICHE character build that'd fit into the story line of Skyrim. The backstory, the archetype (i.e. warrior, made, theif, citizen, etc.), the race, everything! I've yet to come across one I've actually found interesting. I am a realistic roleplayer, I enjoy doing things as if I were the actual person within the game. I even take it to the extant of walking most places, using fast travel only in certain circumstances (when I'm on a horse, when I'm by a wagon and I need to travel to somewhere
BESIDES the capitals; I pay by reverse-pickpocketing the gold I think he deserves, etc.), using the map when the environment/weather allows it; hell, I even take a weekly dip in the lake for a bath! If you cannot tell by now, realism is big for me, and I institute it into pretty much every game that allows it. Skyrim, being one of those games, is no different. So I need a character, with a backstory that fits into the Skyrim scenario with the "crossing the border and sentenced to death" beginning, and then why he'd choose to join the Imperials, Stormcloaks, or any other faction for that matter. So as you can see, I'm sort of in a rut here . Anything helps!

P.S.: Cliche to me is a "Imperial warrior that joins the Imperial Legion because he's from Cyrodill." and stuff of that sort. Please be creative. :-)

That's kind of a hard thing to ask another to do for you, as people develop their characters differently. What I found, though, was reading the Oblivion History guide helped as it details the history of each region of Nirn from the beginning of the first age. It allowed me to develop an Argonian stealth character with a very believable back story. He was smuggling Moonsugar across the Skyrim border only to discover the job was a double cross from a competing Drug Cartel back in Elswyre. Ended up caught up in the Imperial raid on the storm cloaks and when his stash was discovered, they threw him in with the rest of the lot.
He harbors a grudge against the Empire for the death of his family at the hands of escaped prisoners from the Imperial prisons in the inner marshes, so there's no hope of him joining them, but likewise he holds no allegiance to the Storm Cloaks other than taking pleasure in sticking a fork in the Imperial Eye, so to speak.

My current character, a Bosmer, is less developed, but I would recommend searching the TES Lore for some back story and motivational guidance, and once you figure out the style of play you want, it shouldn't be too difficult to develop it out.

Thanks a lot! I'll be sure to check some of the lore out, my previous character was kind of the "bastard" of the Septim dynasty. He was a Nord, as Tiber Septim, and I had developed a backstory for him about the generations which lead to him and his childhood, and pilgrimage to Skyrim and all that stuff, but he knew nothing of the Septim relation, but this is the reason why he had inherited the Dovahkiin bloodline from the Septims and shared the curiosity of the Voice from his forefather, Tiber Septim. Pretty fun playthrough, but a little too mainstream for my taste.

I roleplay as a Khajit stealth type character, who comes from the family of famous smith in elsweyr. He was always very skinny and slender for his age, and was much more talented in the sneaking arts then in combat or magicka. He was apprenticed to a trade caravan which was on route to Skyrim, when they were confused as being bandits, and they were attacked by the Thalmor. This led him to hate the Thalmor.

Hmm, I think part of the problem is sometimes cliche is very realistic... why is Imperial warrior from Cyrodil a negative or unrealistic thing? But you can essentially make up a story for any character type. A nord warrior defending his homeland and getting right into the dovahkiin role, maybe he joins stormcloaks for the homeland thing or just stays neutral because he thinks the dragon threat is the real problem. A high elf that hates the Thalmor because of something that happened to him in their homeland and perhaps running from that is what got him to Skyrim. A mage that views the voice as just another type of magic to be explored and was searching for more about it at its source: Skyrim. A redguard merc (or any merc) coming up to take advantage of the civil war looking for work. etc.

I just make a character that I think looks cool for the path I plan on taking him on and then create a story as I do.

I've been searching the internet for what seems like a decade to find a feasible NON CLICHE character build that'd fit into the story line of Skyrim. The backstory, the archetype (i.e. warrior, made, theif, citizen, etc.), the race, everything! I've yet to come across one I've actually found interesting. I am a realistic roleplayer, I enjoy doing things as if I were the actual person within the game. I even take it to the extant of walking most places, using fast travel only in certain circumstances (when I'm on a horse, when I'm by a wagon and I need to travel to somewhere
BESIDES the capitals; I pay by reverse-pickpocketing the gold I think he deserves, etc.), using the map when the environment/weather allows it; hell, I even take a weekly dip in the lake for a bath! If you cannot tell by now, realism is big for me, and I institute it into pretty much every game that allows it. Skyrim, being one of those games, is no different. So I need a character, with a backstory that fits into the Skyrim scenario with the "crossing the border and sentenced to death" beginning, and then why he'd choose to join the Imperials, Stormcloaks, or any other faction for that matter. So as you can see, I'm sort of in a rut here . Anything helps!

P.S.: Cliche to me is a "Imperial warrior that joins the Imperial Legion because he's from Cyrodill." and stuff of that sort. Please be creative. :-)

Search for The Skyrim Blog in your search engine. That web site has loads of builds, some will fit your desires than others. You can also search on this website for build ideas. Those have helped me out.

Another idea is to choose a race, choose your skill path, and then try to design your own backstory. Like an Altmer that wants to study at the College of Winterhold. Or an orc that was sent to dispatch Ulfrich, got pinched with the Stormcloaks, and now has to find a way to finish the job. Maybe you were a Nord, in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can also be any character that you want to play as, that never starts the main quest line. There is so many ways tp play this game, that the only true limitation to it is your imagination.

I've been searching the internet for what seems like a decade to find a feasible NON CLICHE character build that'd fit into the story line of Skyrim. The backstory, the archetype (i.e. warrior, made, theif, citizen, etc.), the race, everything! I've yet to come across one I've actually found interesting. I am a realistic roleplayer, I enjoy doing things as if I were the actual person within the game. I even take it to the extant of walking most places, using fast travel only in certain circumstances (when I'm on a horse, when I'm by a wagon and I need to travel to somewhere
BESIDES the capitals; I pay by reverse-pickpocketing the gold I think he deserves, etc.), using the map when the environment/weather allows it; hell, I even take a weekly dip in the lake for a bath! If you cannot tell by now, realism is big for me, and I institute it into pretty much every game that allows it. Skyrim, being one of those games, is no different. So I need a character, with a backstory that fits into the Skyrim scenario with the "crossing the border and sentenced to death" beginning, and then why he'd choose to join the Imperials, Stormcloaks, or any other faction for that matter. So as you can see, I'm sort of in a rut here . Anything helps!

P.S.: Cliche to me is a "Imperial warrior that joins the Imperial Legion because he's from Cyrodill." and stuff of that sort. Please be creative. :-)

This is a backstory I never really used: you might use parts of it as a starting point.

The limitations on the character are:Can never add to MagickaCannot learn new spells or use any Magic perksCan only add to Stamina ⅕ of leveling occasionsCan only use daggers and bows. No swords, axes, maces, shields or staffsCan use enchanted items if found or purchased. Can use Soul Gems to recharge.Can only use light armorCan use Standing Stones

In order to come up with a way to get my character to take on his self-assigned goal, I had to abuse the game mechanics. There has to be a reason for him to ask about rumors, since this is the only way that the game allows him to enter the Dark Brotherhood, and assassinate the emperor.

My name is Ha’adeeth, a Crown of the Na-Totambu. My family claims direct descent from the ancient king, though we have fallen on hard times and for decades we have lived on the edges of the Alik’r desert, eking out an existence and shunning all except a few other similar families. My grandfather still rules the family and refuses to accept any compromises with the Ra-Gada or any outsiders, indeed he expects us to speak Yoku and he will not (maybe cannot) talk to those who speak other languages. His hatred of the Ra-Gada is exceeded only by that for the Emperor, and I believe he would even work with the Thalmor if it would harm his enemies.

I have always been an embarrassment to my father and grandfather. Unlike my six elder brothers, all of whom revel in battle and all forms of physical hardship, I am weak and uncoordinated (in truth even my sisters are more capable than I). Despite almost daily sessions with the battlemasters I still so puny that I cannot wield even a sword or axe, nor hold a shield, for more than a few minutes, so I am reduced to using daggers. My archery skills are also limited, though I can at least hit a target more often than not. This was all bad enough, and guaranteed that I would never be accepted as a full part of the family, but there was worse to come. Given my physical limitations, my father decided that I should be given training as a mage. In itself this was an extraordinary decision, given our distrust of all forms of magic, and a further sign of my grandfather’s desperation. It didn’t take long to discover that I was incapable of memorizing many of the key spells: I constantly reversed key elements and could not seem to even use scrolls or recipes properly as I kept misreading the information (sometimes with disastrous results). Even then I might have persevered and become proficient enough to earn a living but, as I matured, it became clear I was a witling. Unable to gain any further Magicka, I was doomed to a lifetime of being able to cast maybe one simple spell before exhausting my pool, then waiting many minutes while it replenished.

With no serviceable skills, I had nothing to offer the family and could see nothing that would allow me to make my way in the world. In an effort to force me into a choice, my father gave me increasingly demeaning tasks, women’s work, and acting as a servant to my brothers. Each night I would lie awake, racking my brains for a solution, no matter how desperate, and then slowly, and with a sense of disbelief, I came up with an idea that would not only make me worthy in my family’s eyes, but would perform a great service to all of Hammerfell: I would assassinate the Emperor!

Clearly, in many ways I seemed to be the least-likely candidate imaginable, but I began to see my drawbacks as potential positives. Who would suspect someone like me? My clear ineptitude might cause the Emperor’s guards to relax their security, giving me a chance. After all, storming the palace with a battle-ax wasn’t the only way to kill. The more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that this was my only chance to redeem myself with the family, so I finally broached the idea with my father while he was drinking after dinner. Not surprisingly his reaction was to laugh so hard that mead shot out of his nose, and then he called in the family to tell them what I had proposed. The next half hour was humiliating, as each of my brothers found increasingly insulting scenarios of failure, culminating in my tripping over the emperor’s chamberpot and getting drenched with the contents.

I had noticed that my grandfather stayed silent throughout the entire proceeding, and assumed he was so disgusted that he had nothing to say. So, it was to my complete surprise that he held up his war ax, a signal that he was about to make a formal family pronouncement. ‘While I think the idea will never work, it is Ha’adeeth’s choice to make. Better he die in a task as valiant as this, than live out his life as he is now. And, if by the luck of the gods he should succeed, the honor he will bring to us would be immense.’ He stopped, and there was complete silence around the room. No one was willing to argue even though it was clear none of them agreed with him. He waited and then dismissed the rest of the family, motioning me to stay behind and sit in the chair next to him.

‘I doubt if you will even get close enough to even see the emperor’ he said. ‘Still, there are a few things that might help, including your own thought about being seen as no threat. One thing I can help you with, and this will stay between the two of us: I have an old friend that might be able to help you. He owes me a favor since I hid him after he killed his father. His name is Nazir. I don’t know where he is living, but I do know that he is in Skyrim and he will be at a specific location on the first day of each month. I will also send him a written an explanation of your plan (It is in Yoku, which will convince him of the story and be safe even if captured by Imperials), so he will know what to do to help you, but don’t expect too much, he was acting very strangely, he kept talking about his brothers, which is odd since he only had sisters. Wait at least a month for him to get the message, then enter Skyrim, go to the Bannered Mare in Whiterun and look for him. If he is not there he will leave a message with the innkeeper (just ask if there are any rumors). The message you get may not make much sense, but follow the directions and they should lead you to him. If not, ask again. May the Gods protect you, but I doubt if we will see each other again.’